Amusing musings

Hello again

Lazarus_Long — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 13:39:59 GMT

Well the issue of free speech appears to be a losing proposition as most people seem content to be secure and subjugated. I will fight alongside those willing to defend liberty but no one can defend liberty for those unwilling to do so for themselves. I lament these times we are in for my disappointment with community and country are great, perhaps most of all with myself. Yet I also understand this is the way of ages coming to a close heralding the phoenix rising. This new age of life on Earth is before us if we survive this deep darkness that preludes the dawn. I wish I didn't sound so melodramatic in my statements but nonetheless this is how I feel and after all isn't expressing these intimate thoughts what a blog is for? That problem isn't why I began this entry. I actually wanted to make an appeal for help to my friends of another kind. It is too bad that I live so far away from so many of you. It is difficult to find common ground. I feel overwhelmed. I have begun so much but I cannot finish alone. I have ideas and resources, skills, tools and plans. The problem is getting organized and staying on track from beginning to end. It is also finding others that I can share goals with. The conflicts of meeting the needs of others and those of myself often seem irreconcilable. Perhaps humanity really is simply too diverse to really unite. I find that most groups recruit without reason and depend on factors that I find deplorable so the end result however is that I belong nowhere. To truly feel a part of something larger than oneself is a desire we all share but what defines that entity larger than the self is something that more and more appears impossible to agree upon. Feeling alone when isolated is understandable but feeling isolated and alone when surrounded by family and community implies a level of disassociation that is symptomatic of serious problems. The question for me is how to reach across this divide and find others to share with in a meaningful fashion. Enough rambling if I do not just post this it will never get out.

The clock is ticking

Lazarus_Long — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 04:33:53 GMT

It's been nice to meet many of you and I figure soon this place will be a different place. To say I am disappointed is an understatement. I joined tribe precisely because it was a place of free thinkers. I don't plan on leaving right away and I doubt they will kick me out. But as the quality of debate in most of the tribes I belong to has deteriorated so badly of late I figure as so many of the people I respect are leaving it is downhill from here. Tonight when I sign off I won't be back till right before the new TOU comes into effect and after that I will cease contributing at all for a while before possibly unsubscribing and looking for greener pastures. No point in hanging around I guess. Clearly most people are afraid to take a stand or make a statement. On my unscientific informal poll the count 11 to 7 against the new move but at least 2 voted that they didn't approve of the changes but were fatalistic about it and weren't going to protest further. The irony reflects reality though, 18 people thought it significant enough to make a statement but 82 people were unwilling for whatever reason to take a stand at all. That reflects the reality of the weakness of our culture and why it is so easy for democracy to end. Power goes to those that are willing to exercise it and in that respect the Neo-Cons are right and the left is losing. I will check in from time to time again. Good bye and good luck my friends.

Putsch back the tide.

Lazarus_Long — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 19:06:42 GMT

Let's do it. For all those that are interested in sending a mild but meaningful statement to Tribe.net that we are dissatisfied with the upcoming changes; let us count our numbers. For those of us in the US let's take this coming Sunday off from 12am PST to 12am PST and make it 12am Sunday till 12 Noon Monday GMT for our international brethren. A good day away from the computer, not just Tribe is a good idea. It seems already that many have begun to leave. Some wil be sorely missed. I suggest we not run away alone but stay together. Do not allow a subversive Neo-Con & Religious Right putsch that removes this already existing global network from your personal sphere of contact that so many of us have contributed to building. Why run off when it makes far more sense to stay and fight? By abandoning this place out of anger we also can find ourselves further denied access by virtue of that absence. However a boycott of significant numbers would send a clear message since they will not poll the membership opinion openly. Yes Tribe is a business not a democracy, but we are the connections that give it substance not just wire and light. By joining our voices in a simple and significant statement we can overcome the muzzling of our speech by those that would seek higher power than they have or deserve. It is sad irony that the message is by standing gagged for a day in virtual space. If enough people take a day away it will be felt the way a municipal water system is during Super Bowl commercials. ;) Many of us have spent considerable time in open negotiation with some members of leadership and opposing members. They are going ahead regardless as of now and I expect they will go through with this. Those that want to say goodbye still have the day after the boycott to do so under the old system and those intend to stay might take 2 or 3 days off in a row in the first week of the new rules. Another good reason to abandon the computer for a few days of winter sports or other physical activity anyway. BTW. To their credit no member of Tribe leadership has threatened me with censure or sanction for promoting this idea and they are aware of its existence as a possibility. Hell it wouldn't even work if the message wasn't shared with them. If this viral meme works then what is also being tested is the level of representation of opinion the entire membership shares on a specific subject. Share this poster! Plaster your local Tribe kiosks as event announcements, mailings and posts. Those who spread the meme are taking whatever risk there is. Those who just enforce the boycott by not being here are untouchable but perhaps not powerless. Modify it to make it attractive, add artwork and wording more appropriate to your communities. It is our power to use or lose. Let's make it so...

Dance to the music

Lazarus_Long — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 16:22:30 GMT

This link is too funny in a morbid kind of way. Please listen to it because this is where society is headed even faster if organizations like Tribe begin to represent the Feds more than the members. http://www.adcritic.com/interactive/view.php?id=5927 There is hope however and the boycott idea has been getting a lot of support. There are other ideas out there too but there is no inherent contradiction between these various protest plans and a boycott. What really matters is a coordinated statement. I suggest that we slam the site all week with protests to our friends, in our blogs, on every tribe, in listings and through PM's that say we will all boycott next Saturday the 18th and ask for a public review of this new policy and a discussion of alternative strategies before that, TO BE VOTED ON BY THE MEMBERSHIP. BTW if the new policy were voted on rather than imposed it would pass the community standards test that the Supreme court established for obscenity versus art determinations. Then if they pay no heed and on the 20th go ahead I expect that many will unsubscribe and that would be sad but the day to do this is on the 21st together if there is no resolution. I for one intend to not delete any posts or photos and I don't think I need to or should. I will possibly sue them if they delete any in order to force them to show cause and demonstrate in court why a vague policy like they are describing has any merit under the law. However I suggest there is much more to be gained from giving a message that we can and should work together against this draconian policy. Together, Tribe AND the membership are far stronger and can confront this unjust Federal Law. I suspect this law needs a test case just like ours because it can be struck down easily as too broad and restrictive of Free Speech precisely because of the chilling effect on legitimate speech it will have through being enforced in the manner adopted here. I do not intend to unsubscribe but I will stop participating in any manner first for the protest day, then for the week after they go ahead with this policy. But if they go ahead I intend to loudly protest again going forward and it is mistake IMHO to remove ourselves from the fray here. It is counter productive and simply leaves the field to the powers attempting to drive us out.

What a difference a day makes

Lazarus_Long — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 16:08:12 GMT

I want to know hope but it is no hope. I have no sense of humor. I guess it is true that I am humor impaired. I can tell something is missing but I find so little of what makes people laugh effects me the same way. I guess it is why I feel like an alien here. I am not going to rant today but say how interesting to me how fast things can change. I thrive on change so for me that is very satisfying. I am trying to alter what I spend my time on. I have been away from the computer and dealing with other aspects of life of late and so these entries may get to be few and far between. The problem is that much of my life involves various types of correspondence here in the web but the help I need s with specific tasks and typing won't get my construction work done. I also need to focus my writing on more specific tasks. I have a number of papers I should be writing when I write and letters that are long overdue. Anyway today is beautiful and I should blow it all off and go canoeing. Anyone want to take the other paddle? It is the end of the 2nd week of November and the temps today will reach the low to mid 60's again. That ole liberal myth of global warming sure has a few hidden perks now doesn't it? Usually it was snowing by this point not canoeing weather.

Time enough for trees

Lazarus_Long — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 13:58:37 GMT

I realized after I wrote this post that it should be my blog entry for today. I hope it brings a little color and a smile into your day. I have always listened to trees since I learned to live among them as a child and I am past the half century mark. In the forests of my youth the cacophony of song sifting through them was like the symphony and chorus combined. I still travel to the ridges to hear the voice of the whispering pines and creaking aspens. Their thoughts were not foreign to me as much as foreign to what I am, one must be able to hear the Earth speak through touch and smell and listening to trees is both internal and external simultaneously but the *words* are ours and the meaning theirs. To understand trees one must extend their time sense and see well beyond the fleeting moment of man. Trees understand geology like no human; they live it. My advice to any that seek to appreciate this relationship is to first slow down, then get very close and try and open all your sensory ability not merely your ears. Listening to trees doesn't require Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) it requires Total Sensory Perception. Today the leaves have been falling like rain here in the NE. For the last two or three weeks we have been treated to a splendor of sights that only trees provide. The leaves fell as a gentle drizzle over that time but last night the winds of winter wafted vigorously through the forest and the trees bowed making their grand finale of fall. So they release their majesty and the golden and red hues swirl in the wind, cover the Earth and change the delicious morning into feast for the eyes and heart. I always try and remember to say thank you them when this happens because their fruit is on the table and they are about to take their season of rest from a hard working summer but even in the hard of frozen darkness they stand sentinel around us. Yes each tree speaks to us, each is an entity unto itself. I have a friend that stands outside my home, a northern blue spruce that was planted too close but was a sapling when I was born. For me that tree is like a spiritual sibling and to the consternation of many who offer free advice I chose to work the remodeling and construction of my home around that tree and let her live, in fact protect her. It is sometimes scary to have a 75 foot tall friend sway just a few feet outside your window, but it is far better than television to watch the birds make their home and squirrels dance. The voice of that tree is at times like whale song in the dead dark sea of night but it is also a bulwark against the monotone of winter to have the bright blue green needles and golden cones continuously present even when the snows swirl and drift all around. Today the leaves of autumn are golden and red droplets falling in a driving rain and the hillsides are getting dressed for winter. The trees are thankful for a bountiful long summer and look forward to a short but suddenly hard winter. Yes they told me so but they are not alone. The birds have been flocking, gathering for travel and filling the suddenly naked branches too. They sing so loud one cannot hear a single voice except the occasional proud scream of the herons in the distance preparing for departure and the complaining geese.

Is it too soon for solutions?

Lazarus_Long — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 04:59:17 GMT

How bad do things have to get before reasonable people will take events into their own hands and stop depending on representatives whether these be elected, appointed, divine , or self anointed? Sadly if current trends are indicative, much worse. They say it is always darkest before the dawn and we appear to be still in twilight. A kind of madness is spreading across our world and it is not just in the US. We may be using our war drums to beat the dance of the lemmings out but the whole world is dancing. This post has languished on my computer for days so I guess it is time to send it. I guess what I seek is a way to bridge the gap I experience when trying to participate on large scale concerns with others. I do not feel or recognize any affinity but self interest. I perceive religion, not spirituality as being for the primary purpose of uniting groups and establishing a unified code of conduct for children. I do not have to agree with any particular religion but it appears that they all share this basic relationship to the community. I find that I have no affinity for any single religion, they all contain value and none speak to me above another. They are all also equally obsolete. No one needs religion to commune with spirit. Religion is a process that institutionalizes this communion because that is how the social fabric of the clan/tribes were unified over the previous thousands of years but in a global society this factionalism is fractional and counter productive. I prefer doing things that I can measure for progress. Spirit is motivation and occasional guidance in the dark but it is not something that is made better by being organized around any particular institution. So what are some solutions to humanity's many crises? Please offer your own but I think that each of us holds a portion of the solution and it begins with a goal of treating one another fairly and defending anothers' rights as if they are your own. Even if that person is your enemy. I guess if I possess a moral code it is the Golden Rule. It is a funny thing about *fairness* even Capuchin monkeys understand it. I suspect most social species have some measure for it. However it is still a law of nature that *life isn't necessarily fair*. Enough maudlin talk I want to hear solutions. I want to help people learn, live long with that learning, and do so in the least destructive manner possible. How do we get people to make plowshares again?

The DEaD can DAnCe

Lazarus_Long — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 04:58:11 GMT

What is the meaning in the rhythm of the trance? Why can we feel and yet not grasp? When is a moment when we're past? Where is the harmony of just living fast? Today in the Latin tradition is the Day of the Dead, All Souls day, the time when till the witching hour the dead walk among the living. Have you hugged your spirit today? Do you have a loved one among the dead whose only link out of oblivion is in your heart? Take a moment and wish them well. Be grateful for what ever time was shared and sense that feeling out of time beyond the limits of what is known and can be understood. Spirit is what you perceive in your mind and heart not with your body. The body expresses the spirit from within to without. OK enough. I do not sometimes understand this process of journal writing. Should I just vent? Talk of the things I wish for? Ask questions, or just take a moment and reflect? Today I worked Work every day I work so that I can work some more Have I forgotten how to play Still I love to love And say I love Today Tell me a story daddy? Why are we here? Learn to live and live to learn Two minutes till tomorrow I think I'll stay

To begin

Lazarus_Long — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 06:22:09 GMT

Somewhere in the middle of one's life we all come to contemplate where we are, how we got here and what do we want to be when we grow up. Tonight as so many trials and tribulations come together and I seek a moment of surcese I will try my hand at this web logging, starting by contemplating how it all began. I do so in answer to someone else's quest to figure out when the concept of the *future as progress* basically began. The idea that the future is one of hope is a spiritual idea predicated on the evolutionary psychology of survival. We will to live and knowing we are mortal we pass this torch of hope to each subsequent generation. It is a message borne in the fire of caves thousands and thousands of years ago when ice sheathed our world miles thick and we began to paint pictures on the walls to help keep the histories so our children could make us pass into the future beyond our mortality. Memory is the means by which mere mortals make themselves immortal. I wrote on the basics of language and how it began and I thought for those that might be interested you could read it here. A little past through future history http://philosophyofscience.tribe.net/thread/b6e8c730-730a-4d08-b69e-2094e4127ac0?threads=true&r=10352#10ec03d8-b045-44c6-89e0-b2d313b8d275 enjoy Do not go gently into that good night Gracefully demand a moment of delight Tempation for a dangerous plight And generosity with which to fight It is not to die that is our fate But struggle with all we have to make life great